Hear the Haunting of the Bells
by BluFox15
Summary: They were simple gifts - spur of the moment, yes, but still from the heart. Too bad they already belonged to someone. And she wants them back. Happy Halloween!
1. Runic Rhyme

**Alright, so, first thing you need to know: this is, in fact, the first chaptered story in my Halloween collection, hence the early post. Six chapters, each posted daily until the 31st. Woopee.**

**Second thing: these aren't beta'd. Why? Through a combination of schoolwork, camping trips, strep throat (possibly), and a mother who loves to hover, I'm writing these fairly quickly and at the last minute. Still, the story was planned. Just not written.**

**Third: these chapters _will _be edited. But I still want them posted on time, so the initial story will be raw. Then again, maybe this is a good thing; all of you early-birds will finally see how much of my writing is me and how much is the ever-excellent Cordria. Cori is still getting the chapters to be beta'd, and I will take her edits into account at a later date. Just not now. My head hurts enough just rushing. This is why all of these so far have only been one-shots. And without a deadline. Oi.**

**Without further ado, please enjoy the third in my annual Halloween fics - _Hear the Haunting of the Bells_.**

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* * *

Runic Rhyme_

"What is this supposed to be, again?"

There was an exasperated sigh. "It's supposed to be sort of like a bazaar..."

"Except we're in America and it's not going to be here for long... right?"

Jazz chuckled at her brother. "No, Danny, only for a month or two."

Danny stared balefully at the site before him. "Good. I may not go to the mall often, but I actually like knowing where I am... this is just..." He searched for a word to describe the temporary baubles, ribbons, and the many, many stores turned inside-out that had transformed the Amity Park Mall into this bright and foreign marketplace. "... Weird."

Jazz snorted. "Right. Because hardly _anything_ weird _ever_ happens to _us_..."

"Your sarcasm is duly noted," said Danny, rolling his eyes. He looked around the immediate area, everything else being blocked by the large crowd. "Seriously, where are we?"

Jazz looked, too. "I... I _think_ we're in the clothing section..."

"You _think_."

"_Yes_, Danny, I think. It's better than what you do most of the time," Jazz snapped, at this point well and truly pissed off.

Danny opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by a familiar voice straining to be louder than the crowd. "Danny! _Jazz! HEY!_"

The siblings turned, startled, and were nearly bowled over by an overenthusiastic Tucker trying to get their attention. Sam was following close behind, but managed to keep her speed under control.

Danny, who received the brunt of the impact because both Tucker and Jazz fell on top of him, squeezed his hand to a position to properly push them off him. With a small amount of effort and a loud "Get _off!_" they fell off and to the side.

"... Ow..." moaned Tucker, and Jazz on Danny's other side gave her brother a glare. When he only glared back, she gave it up as a bad job and chose to glare at Tucker instead.

Pushing herself back to her feet, Jazz hissed, "What in the world was _that!_" And while Tucker couldn't hear her over the crowd, he understood her just fine.

"Hehe... sorry about that," he said, rubbing his beret back and forth on his head in a nervous gesture similar to Danny's. When Jazz continued to glare, he averted his eyes.

At this, Sam decided to step in. "He was frantic because he couldn't find a proper food court," she said, giving the bottomless pit an amused glance. "When we saw you in the crowd, he was thinking that Jazz, as a co-conspirator in this entire thing, would know where they put it..."

"And thus explains the speed of light with which he decided to grace us with his presence," muttered Danny. Sam still managed to hear, however, and shot him an odd look.

"What's up with you?" she asked, giving him a once over. He looked horrible, and she had a feeling that little of it had anything to do with Tucker's dynamic entrance.

"What's ever up with me?" he asked sarcastically. "Ghosts kept me up all night."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I've seen you handle quite a few all-nighters with considerably more grace."

Danny chuckled bitterly. "Two weeks without more than five hours of sleep will do that to a person."

Jazz broke her glare at this. "T-two weeks? You've gone _two weeks_ without sleep?"

Danny raised his eyebrow. "… Yes. I thought you knew."

She shook her head. "Every time I would check in on you at night, you were in bed. In fact, I thought the ghosts had _stopped_ attacking…"

"Oh, that." Danny actually looked sheepish at this. "That was me using my duplication to ward off Mom and Dad. I caught them talking about taking extra precautions to see that I wasn't skipping out on curfew again." He gave Jazz a look. "I didn't know that you were doing it, too…"

Jazz glowered. "That was just to make sure you were okay. You know that." Danny said nothing.

The awkward silence was broken by a nervous Tucker. "Well, how's about we find that food court, huh?" He tried to wander off, but was stopped by Sam's grip on his sweater.

"Tucker, I swear you have the attention span of a goldfish. Can you focus on the issue at hand for once?"

"I can't help it!" Tucker whined. "I'm hungry!"

"Let's just go," said Danny, also tired of the current conversation. "Do you know where the food court is, Jazz?"

Jazz wasn't ready to let the subject go, but knew that she wasn't going to get anything out of her brother anymore. She sighed and said, "Let's get outside. I should be able to figure it out from there."

They stuck close together, trying not to lose one another in the chaos around them. Sam suddenly stopped, jerking the hand Danny had on her shoulder and bringing the others subsequently to a halt.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Danny asked, seeing that she was staring intently at something with a smile on her face. He followed her gaze and groaned.

There was a small stand, set up for what looked to be antiques. There wasn't much to look at, but Danny knew what caught her eye. "No, Sam."

"Oh, why not?" said Sam, not taking her eyes off the cart. "It won't be like last time…"

"Yes, it will be like last time," said Tucker, who had noticed what Danny had. "Because you said the same thing the time before that, and the time before that…" Sam turned just enough to give the techno-geek a glare and he averted his gaze.

Danny was left undaunted. "Sam, you are not going to buy that, alright? Just, no! No!"

* * *

"I can't believe you bought those…" Danny moaned once they were outside. Sam happily trotted alongside the others, holding her purchase: a large, thin antique box.

"Why not, Danny?" said Sam, grinning like a fool. "I've never listened to you before, so why now?"

"Dude... she has a point..." whispered Tucker, who quickly backed down under yet another glare.

"That's enough, guys," said Jazz, watching the group of underclassmen with undisguised amusement. She turned to Sam, saying, "Alright, Sam. What did you buy that has the boys so twitchy?"

Sam smiled and quickly turned the box so that she could open it better. What was inside stole everyone's breath away, even Danny. The box was split into four compartments, and inside each one was a different kind of bell. Each one had beautiful designs etched on the sides, and they had black ribbons attached to them at a different place for each bell; they were made to be worn.

Sam pulled out the set in the second compartment - a mismatched pair of ornate golden bells - and handed them to Jazz. The older girl looked at the younger in surprise.

"This is what I bought them for," said Sam, interpreting Jazz's confusion. "I usually give them to Danny and Tucker to wear-"

"And she usually buys a lot more than this," Danny murmured.

"-But I wanted to give one to you this year, too," she continued, ignoring Danny altogether. "It'll look gorgeous in your hair..."

Jazz smiled, taking the hint, and tied the ribbons behind her ears like her normal headband, with the two bells hanging just behind her left ear, the smaller bell in front of the larger. Sam certainly didn't exaggerate; the color of the bells brought out the hints of yellow in her strawberry-blonde hair. By the looks on Danny and Tucker's faces, they were impressed, too. Jazz playfully ran a hand through her hair, making the bells ring with crisp and cheery tone.

"Perfect!" Sam chirped, making the boys cringe as she reached into the box again. This time she pulled out a single, yellow-orange colored bell with fewer designs than the gold, yet looking no less enchanting. She handed it to Tucker, who looked at it dubiously.

"What do I do with it?" he muttered, making Sam roll her eyes.

"You wear it, obviously."

Tucker gave her a 'you've-gotta-be-kidding-me' look. "I am _not_ putting this in my hair," he snapped, making Sam groan and nearly shove the box in Danny's hands. She picked the bell up from Tucker's outstretched hands and quickly tied the ribbon around his bicep, with the bell showing on the outside. When she stepped back, Tucker looked at it, making the bell ring lowly with a tone slightly deeper than Jazz's, and he noted how the color complimented his skin tone. He looked up at her curiously. "What is this one made of, anyway?"

"Brass," Sam said shortly, still annoyed with him, and she opened the box again while it was still in Danny's hands. She now pulled out a medium-sized gray bell, slightly smaller than Tucker's, with even fewer decorative shapes carved into it. The ribbon attached to it was slightly shorter than his, as well. Finally taking the box from Danny, only to hand it to Jazz, she made to circle his neck when he backed up.

"Whoa, whoa, _what?_ No! I don't know what possessed you to do all of this, but for one thing, I'm not wearing that and two, even if I was, I wouldn't be wearing it as a _necklace!_"

Sam lowered her arms and pinched the bridge of her nose, a sign that she was truly irritated. "One, I'm doing this because I felt like giving all of you something for no real reason other than because I wanted to," she hissed, making Danny's anger falter. "And two, the ribbon is shorter than Tucker's or Jazz's and the last one is even shorter, so the only option is to wear it as a necklace. Besides," she said, lifting her head, "I've seen you wear necklaces before, and not all of them were from me, so what difference does it make now?"

Danny didn't answer, but he didn't argue either. He simply stared off in the distance before giving the barest of nods and holding out his hand. If he had to wear it, he would at least put it on himself. Sam happily complied, giving him the bell. Before he put it on, he rang it, listening to the deep tang of its tone, and asked, "Why iron?"

Sam blushed before saying, "Well, _iron _also means strength. I thought it would fit you." Humbled, Danny finally put on the necklace, which was so short it fit more like a choker, with the bell situated just to the right of his neck.

Satisfied, Sam reached back into the box for the fourth and final bell, revealing a pair of identical silver bells with no decorations at all, hanging from the middle of a chain that was in turn connected to the black ribbons. She made to put it on her wrist herself, but Danny's hands replaced hers before she could do so. Taking the gesture as an informal thank you and apology, Sam allowed him to tie the bracelet around her wrist. When he stepped back, she lightly shook her hand and made them ring - a cool, clear sound that didn't really carry but was heard by all four of them.

Sam looked at the others, noting how well they showed off her gifts, and smiled. The moment passed as Tucker got Jazz 'back on track' and they all made their way to the redesigned food court, but they did so with a much happier attitude than before.

* * *

Deep in the ghost zone, on a small outcropping of rock, a small girl lay curled on her side. She slowly opened her eyes for the first time in decades, possibly centuries. Sitting up, she stretched mightily before noticing something amiss. There was no sound.

She put a hand on her wrist, feeling frantically for something that wasn't there. She felt her neck. She felt her arm. She felt her hair. Each action was more desperate than the last. She stood up quickly, gazing around her small floating island and nearly tearing it apart in her search.

When she no longer had any other place to look, she drew herself up as straight as she could. And, even though she had long since stopped needing to breathe, she took a large gulp of air and shattered the silence with a wailing, inhuman scream.


	2. Silver Bells

**And here's chapter number two. If it wasn't obvious from the first chapter, this entire fic is based off of Edgar Allen Poe's _Bells_. I really enjoy that poem, but I couldn't figure out an appropriate one-shot for it. Then this happened. It's unconventional, and an obvious deviation from the norm, but I enjoyed writing it (however rushed it may be). I hope you enjoy reading it now, 'cause you'll love reading it when I finally get around to editing it! Until then, enjoy!**

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* * *

Silver Bells_

Sam sat up straight in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her hands clawed at her bedspread, struggling to find purchase where it wasn't needed. Her hair clung to her face with sweat, and she panted heavily after she managed to quiet herself down. Fortunately, there was no one around to hear her since her parents were away on a business trip. She didn't have to worry about anyone knocking down her door trying to figure out what her scream was about.

Even Sam didn't know why she screamed. As far as she knew, she wasn't even dreaming. Before she had the chance to recall anything from before, her cell phone rang with Jazz's tone. Flipping it open, she choked out a breathless hello.

_"Sam!"_ Jazz shrieked, catching the goth by surprise and further waking her. _"We're in trouble! Big trouble!"_

"What?" Sam asked, getting a little panicked herself. "What trouble? Jazz, what happened?"

_"That's just it! I don't know! One minute Danny and I are patrolling the town, and the next he just collapses! It's like he's choking on something, he turned human without warning, he's turning blue, oh, God-" _Jazz began to hyperventilate and Sam couldn't take it anymore.

"JAZZ!" she shouted, effectively startling the other girl into blessed silence. Jazz was usually the calm one when it came to emergencies, but even though ghost hunts left her a little more riled than usual, it was never like this. Sam took a deep breath and spoke firmly.

"Jazz," she said again, "Calm down. Panicking won't help Danny." Putting focus on the problem made Sam's heart pound. Even as she worked to calm Jazz down, she began to get dressed. "Now, what is happening right now?"

_"... Hold on a moment."_

"_'Hold on a moment'_? Jazz, what in the world-?" But the older girl didn't answer. Sam cursed and had nearly ripped her coat getting it off the hanger when Jazz spoke again.

_"Danny's fine now,"_ she said simply, almost cheerily, and Sam stared at the phone in disbelief. Placing the phone back to her ear, she wasted no time in putting that disbelief in her voice.

"What do you mean _'Danny's fine now'_? You called me at..." Sam looked at her alarm clock for the first time that evening. "At _2:17 in the morning_ and put me in a frenzy about Danny choking on nothing and you turn around and tell me _'Danny's fine now'_?"

Jazz sucked in a breath to speak, but Sam cut her off. "If you say anything about me not needing to worry, I will hurt you." Jazz remained silent. "I'm already dressed now," Sam continued, "So I may as well see if you're alright. Where are you?"

Jazz stayed silent before grudgingly muttering, _"In front of the mall."_

"Okay then. I'll see you in fifteen." And with that, the goth hung up the phone. Sam stood there for several more minutes, stewing in the utter confusion of the human mind before stepping out of the house while dialing Tucker's number.

She heard him answer while she was putting on her helmet and boarding her moped. _"Sam?"_ he said sleepily. _"Why are you-?"_

"No time," Sam said quickly, starting up the vehicle. "I have a feeling that Jazz and Danny will need some help patrolling tonight."

_"Oh, really?"_ His voice was thick with annoyance. _"And why is that?"_

"Because Jazz just called to tell me that Danny was choking on absolutely nothing-"

_"What!"_

"And then she turned right around and said Danny's fine," she finished, and felt Tucker's confusion through his pause.

_"Um..."_ was all he said, while Sam swung her moped out into the street and onto the path to the mall. He cleared his throat. _"That's... what?"_

"Exactly," said Sam, appreciating his response. "So there's either a ghost making Jazz extremely confused right now, or she's just really tired. Wanna get out here and help?"

_"Uh, yeah, sure. Um..."_ he paused again for a moment. _"Where is everybody?"_

Sam answered even as she weaved around the late traffic. "At the mall. I'm already headed there now."

_"Okay. I'll see you in a few, then."_

"See ya," she said, and they both hung up. The next few minutes were uneventful for Sam, with half of her attention on dodging traffic and the other half on wondering just what had gotten into Jazz. She quickly pulled into the mall's parking lot, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. And she didn't see Jazz and Danny either.

"Jazz!" she called, pulling off her helmet and looking around. The area was completely silent. She cupped her hands to her mouth. "Danny! Jazz? Where are you?"

She wandered the parking lot, taking everything in. The building was still decorated with the bazaar festival from that day, and while it looked cheery and welcoming in the daylight, at night it looked vaguely haunting with the banners swinging in the wind and the baubles bathed in a strange orange glow from the parking lot street lights. In the distance, Sam could see Jazz's scooter parked and abandoned, with neither of the Fenton siblings in sight.

It had to have been a half-hour later that Sam's voice grew too sore to call out anymore. She sat on a bench a long ways away from her moped, rubbing her throat and still looking around herself as if hoping for one or the other to suddenly show up out of nowhere. Of course, they were still out of sight.

"Where could they have gone?" the girl murmured to herself. Desperate and curious, she pulled out her phone and dialed Jazz's number. _Maybe I'd misheard where she said she was..._ Sam thought as the phone rang. That's when she heard it - Jazz's cell phone ringing with the younger girl's tone. Sam jumped in surprise - it wasn't too far away at all. Sam narrowed her eyes and focused on her hearing until she pinpointed the sound to one of the abandoned outside shopping stands. She followed the sound, walked up to the stand, peered around the other side -

And screamed.

Jazz lay face down in a pool of her own blood. Her head was literally split apart; from ear to ear was a large gash that stretched over her head and tore the front of her head from the back and continued to bleed freely. The elder girl's expression was frozen in a wide, slightly insane grin with eyes that would've sparkled if they still saw. But even with Jazz's happy expression, it still gave a faint, nearly hidden impression of complete and torturous pain.

Sam's legs gave out from underneath her and she scrambled away from the corpse, her hand covering her expression of horror. She couldn't bring herself to look away from the sight.

Suddenly, just as abruptly as the sight of Jazz's body was, Sam heard a giggling sound. It was so out of place with the situation that Sam immediately began to look around for the source. What she saw startled her.

There was a pale young girl sitting right next to her. She had a large smile on her face that could be considered innocent, but there was a gleam in her pitch black eyes that screamed insanity. She giggled again, saying, "That look on your face is hilarious. You don't often see your friends with their heads split in half, do you?"

Sam couldn't answer. She slowly began to realize that this girl - this _ghost_ - was the one who had killed Jazz. The girl stood up and began to walk around idly. "It's a shame, really. She was so much fun to play with. Her emotions had such a wide range. I could make her cry at the drop of a hat, laugh at nothing at all, overreact with panic and lose her head... Oh, well. She was gonna die, anyway. Just like the black boy and the half-ghost. I made the black boy kill himself and the halfa..." She giggled again. "Watching my necklace cleave his head off was very satisfying."

Sam gave a start. _Tucker and Danny...? They were...?_ "W-why?" she whimpered, unable to hold in her tears.

The girl stopped walking and looked Sam straight in the eye. "They had my bells." Sam noticed for the first time the golden bells hanging behind her left ear, the brass bell on her arm, and the iron bells around her neck. They were all stained with blood. "And you're the one that took them."

Sam's heart stopped and the girl smirked as she correctly interpreted the goth's expression. "Yep. These are all my bells. I wanted them back. And of course you all have to die for taking them. I mean, I shed my blood for them. Why not you?"

Without any warning, Sam's hand - same one with the bell bracelet - reached out toward the the shop stand of its own accord and tore off a piece of wood. Without giving her the chance to struggle with her wayward hand or marvel at strength that was not her own, the hand positioned the stake directly above her heart. Sam turned a fearful gaze back and forth between her own wrist and the ghost girl, her tears overflowing.

The girl gave one last giggle before saying, "Thanks for giving me my bells back. Hope you have a painful afterlife!"

And before Sam could even suck in a breath to scream, the silver bells jingled with the quick movement it took to thrust the stake forward.


	3. Golden Bells

**Chapter 3. Please get me an aspirin. I need it. _God._**

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* * *

Golden Bells_

Jazz sat at her desk, rubbing her temples. She could handle okay days. She could handle busy days. She could handle bad days. What she couldn't handle were days where she was dragged around an apocalyptically redesigned mall with only her and Tucker's nose as the guide. It all gave her a major headache.

_Well,_ she thought, running her hands through her hair, _at least something good came out of today._ The golden bells still hung in her hair, since she hadn't felt tired enough to sleep (or maybe that would be too tired to sleep...) and they gave her an odd sense of comfort whenever they rang in her ear.

A chill broke her out of her reverie, one that immediately made her clutch her robe tighter around herself despite the fact that she was physically warm. Dismissing the sensation as her open window, she moved to close it when she heard a thud and a muffled yell.

She immediately looked out of the window to see her little brother slamming an ecto-pus into the side of the Fenton Works building. Thinking quickly, she rushed to her bed and pulled a spare Thermos from underneath it. She ran back to the window, aiming quickly. She'd gotten better at hunting since the first time she tried, and the ecto-pus was sucked into the tool with a helpless screech.

Capping the Thermos, Jazz looked up to see Danny panting heavily, his white hair plastered to his head with what could be considered sweat, but she wasn't sure since he was in his Phantom form. He abruptly realized that his target had disappeared and looked up to make glowing green meet bright aqua. Jazz bit her lip. Her younger brother looked so _tired..._

Danny's voice cut into her thoughts. "What are you _doing?_" he asked, glaring at his sister. Jazz recoiled in shock, but then quickly recovered and responded with a glare of her own.

"I think I was helping you, Danny!" she snapped, narrowing her eyes. His attitude had been growing worse and worse over the last few days, and when Jazz had finally heard about his sleeping problem she was prepared to be lenient. But this was a bit much.

Danny rolled his eyes at her response and folded his arms. "Well, don't," he barked, green eyes glowing brighter with unfounded anger. "I was doing fine on my own!"

"Oh, really?" said Jazz, tilting her head. "Where's your Thermos, then?"

Danny opened his mouth to respond, simultaneously reaching behind his back, but he cut himself off when he couldn't feel the tell-tale metal sphere behind his back. He twisted comically in air, and Jazz had to use quite a bit of self-control to keep from laughing at him. After several fruitless seconds, Danny finally righted himself and blushed. "I-It must still be in my room..."

Jazz nodded sagely. "And how long were you fighting that ecto-pus already?" This time Danny didn't bother answering, leaving Jazz to again win in a verbal spar against her brother. However, the girl didn't feel much of a victory - not when her brother was still hovering outside mentally dead on his feet. She noted the bell necklace still strapped around his neck, which led her to assume that he hadn't gotten any sleep, either. Jazz sighed inaudibly and motioned with the hand not holding the Thermos. "Come on, little brother. You need to get some sleep, pronto."

"Can't," said Danny immediately, with a tone so oddly urgent that she had no choice but to cut her eyes back to his and listen with rapt attention. "There's something wrong with tonight, Jazz. I don't know what it is, but I know it's definitely something to do with the ghosts."

Jazz shivered again, saying, "What about them?"

"They're nowhere!" he shouted, sweeping his arms around himself in an exaggerated motion. "There hasn't been any ghost to antagonize me since this afternoon except for the weak, stupid ones like the one you just caught. After two weeks of nearly non-stop ghost fighting, for them to just stop like this is just..." Danny lowered his arms as his face finally showed his fear. "Wrong."

Jazz searched her brother's eyes intently. Seeing nothing but the truth in her brother's fearful gaze, she nodded resolutely. "Right. Well then, I guess that means I'm coming out with you."

The ghost boy's expression changed at the drop of a hat. "W-What?" he stammered in disbelief.

Jazz's only reaction was to make an about-face and head deeper into her room. She quickly slipped on a T-shirt and some loose pants while her brother was still paralyzed outside and began to kneel under her bed for her stash of weapons. When she had grabbed everything she felt she needed and turned around to get her coat, she jumped in surprise as her brother's cold grip held her firmly by the shoulders. "Jazz," he said desperately. "No. You can't."

Jazz recovered from the scare and fixed her eyes onto her brother's resolutely. "Yes, Danny, I can. And I will." She moved to walk past him, but the boy's grip was as solid as the iron hanging from his neck. "Danny. Let go."

"No."

"Danny-"

"No, Jazz, you're not getting it!" She was pulled closer to his face and Jazz was shocked to see the terror laced there. "When something is wrong with the Zone, something is wrong with the Real World, too. If something is scaring the ghosts into hiding, then that means that nothing is safe. Especially not humans!"

Jazz's shock was replaced by determination with her brother's last words. "I may be human, Danny, but so are you." She placed her hands on top of his, noting with pride that she didn't shiver from the touch. "Powers or no powers."

Danny shook his head. "Ja-oomph!" She cut him off with a quick hug and held tightly, waiting until he relaxed and hugged her back to speak.

"Danny, thank you. It makes me happy to know how much you care." She used his surprise from the hug to slip from under his now-loose arms. "You do so much for me. Now it's my turn to help you anyway I can. Starting with this."

She felt her brother's incredulous stare burning into her back as she finally reached her coat. Putting it on, along with some tennis shoes, she turned around to meet it with fire in her eyes. She saw the ghost boy visibly recoil at her gaze and after a long moment, he finally bowed his head and sighed.

"There will be no convincing you, will there?" he asked hopelessly.

"Nope!" Jazz chirped, and she giggled when Danny rolled his eyes.

"Fine." The original fire of a protector came back to his eyes. "But I need you to stay with me at all times, got it?" Knowing this wasn't a time to make jokes, Jazz solemnly nodded, and Danny smiled for the first time that night. "Good."

* * *

The patrol was a quiet affair, setting Jazz's nerves haywire. She agreed with Danny wholeheartedly; something about the air was just wrong. So when Danny stopped his flight when they were about to pass by the mall and seemed tense, Jazz immediately stopped her scooter right behind him. "What? What is it?"

Danny didn't answer. His look of concentration faded into confusion, and then quickly shifted to panic.

"No!" he screamed, and he suddenly flew down to land in front of her. Before Danny could say anything else and before Jazz could take any action, Danny keeled over, clutching his throat. Jazz watched in horror as her younger brother fell to the ground, turned human with a flash of light, and began to gag and writhe all in the space of two seconds.

The bells in her hair rang in her ears, but Jazz took no notice as she was instantly filled with pure panic. "_Danny!_" she cried, but the boy took no notice as he continued to choke.

Jazz could hardly think. She quickly pulled out her cell phone, but the only number she knew _not _to call was 911, due to Danny's genetic nature. _Not that it'll mean anything if he dies here and now!_ she chided herself. _Focus!_ She quickly dialed a random number she knew by memory and hoped they could help. She nearly wept when she heard Sam's sleepy voice drift out of the speaker, but she didn't give the younger girl much time for more than a hello before she started shouting, "Sam! We're in trouble! Big trouble!"

_"What? What trouble?"_ asked Sam, panic now lacing her voice as well. _"Jazz, what happened?"_

"That's just it! I don't know!" screamed Jazz, fear turning her voice into a near literal babbling brook. "One minute Danny and I are patrolling the town, and the next he just collapses! It's like he's choking on something, he turned human without warning, he's turning blue, oh, God-" Jazz started to hyperventilate. What if Sam couldn't find help in time? What if Sam somehow got hurt, too? What if _she _got hurt? Then _no one_ would be able to find help! Oh, God, oh, God, oh God-

_"JAZZ!"_ Sam shouted, making Jazz shut up out of instinct.

_"Jazz,"_ Sam repeated, _"Calm down. Panicking won't help Danny."_ Danny. Oh, God, Danny. Her little brother, her sweet, brave little brother was choking and writhing on the ground and...

The bells again rang in her ear, and the panic was wafted away and replaced by confusion and curiosity. Jazz faintly heard Sam say something else but didn't hear. She gave a distant "Hold on a moment" and lowered the phone to her side, searching the mall's parking lot for her missing brother.

As she again heard the bells in her hair, she found him. He was laying a few feet away and the confusion made way for relief and cheer. She made her way to Danny as she lifted her cell phone again. "Danny's fine now," she told Sam, and prepared to joke about the close call when Sam's tense voice replied to her.

_"What do you mean _'Danny's fine now'_?"_ she growled, giving Jazz pause. Why wasn't Sam as happy as she was? Danny was okay! _"You called me at-at 2:17 in the morning and put me in a frenzy about Danny choking on nothing and you turn around and tell me _'Danny's fine now'_?"_

Jazz was about to reassure the girl that there wasn't anything to worry about when she seemingly read the senior's mind. _"If you say anything about me not needing to worry, I will hurt you."_ There was a beat of silence and Sam went on to say, _"I'm already dressed now, so I may as well see if you're alright. Where are you?"_

_Well,_ Jazz thought, _if you wanna keep yourself in an uptight mood, be my guest._ She told the younger girl where they were and heard the acceptance in Sam's voice.

_"Okay then. I'll see you in fifteen." _There was a loud click that made Jazz wince, but she shrugged unconcerned. She wasn't even worried when she saw a pale girl dressed in white and ribbons kneeling over Danny with a curious, calculating expression. But even in the mindset that everything was perfectly fine, that feeling returned; the feeling of _wrong _that had so worried Danny, that had felt palpable when the patrol first began.

It was that realization that had Jazz furrowing her brows in worried anger and pulling out a Fenton Lipstick laser to aim at the girl, who had then seemed to finally notice her presence. However, even with the sight of a weapon trained on her, she only smiled and waved her hands deftly in her direction, making the bells in her hair ring.

And that happy, careless feeling returned. Jazz returned the girl's smile and dropped the Lipstick, only faintly wondering why she even had it when there was nothing wrong.

The girl stood up, only stopping to wrap a hand around her unconscious brother's throat and toss him bodily with inhuman strength into one of the mall's windows. The alarms didn't sound, furthering Jazz's resolve that there wasn't anything to worry about. Even the mall itself knew.

But somewhere in Jazz's cheerful mind, she pounded on a solid wall. She knew that the mall's alarms didn't sound because it was haunted, most likely by that girl. She knew she had to run. She had to warn Sam - she was already on her way here!

It was pointless. The walls wouldn't give. And the Jazz outside continued to smile broadly as the girl approached her. The bells began to ring behind her ear, happily, joyfully. Their true owner had come for them.

While the outer Jazz continued to smile even as the ringing gave her a pounding headache, the inner Jazz screamed in fear - for herself, for her brother, for Sam, even for Tucker, heaven forbid he get tied up in this somehow.

The ringing grew louder. Her ears began to bleed. And with a final tone that could only be considered _wrong_, the bells banged against her head and sliced it apart from ear to ear.

Neither Jazz knew anything more.


	4. Brazen Bells

**Hoo, boy. Chapter 4, I think. Yeah, that's right. Only two more left. To the one person who reviewed this, thank you. You make my heart smile.**

* * *

_Brazen Bells_

Tucker was bored. There was hardly any other word to describe the lack of activity in his room and in his head. It was sad, really. Tons of video games, computers, gadgets, gizmos, and what-have-you's laying around his room, and he was _bored_.

It sounded like a really bad demotivational poster.

He considered the day exciting. Confusing, but exciting. The mall acted like a new playground, and as soon as they all got used to it, they had a good time. And yes, that included Sam's gift. Tucker plaintively fingered the brass bell still strapped to his arm. He had to admit, it looked cool. In really, really dim lighting, of course. The less he admitted about Sam's adjustments to his fashion sense, the fewer of them she would make. He fought hard enough just to get her to let him keep his beret.

Lowering the chair he had on two legs down to four, he glared halfheartedly at the machines decorating his room and sighed loudly. "Will something interesting _please _happen to me right now?" he stage whispered at the ceiling. Of course he wasn't expecting anything to _answer_.

At least, not by cell phone, which had started ringing not two seconds after his rhetorical demand. Tucker jumped violently in surprise and nearly fell out of his chair. Then he warily glanced up at the ceiling before reaching over to pick it up. He raised an eyebrow when he saw it was Sam.

Pressing 'talk,' he said, "Sam? Why are you-?"

_"No time,"_ Sam said sharply, making him raise the other eyebrow in surprise. _"I have a feeling that Jazz and Danny will need some help patrolling tonight."_

"Oh, really?" This was _not _the 'something interesting' he'd meant. The looked up at the ceiling again, this time with a glare, before returning his attention to the phone. "And why is that?"

_"Because Jazz just called to tell me that Danny was choking on absolutely nothing-"_

"What!" he cried, eyes widening. _That _wasn't what he wanted, either!

But Sam apparently wasn't finished. _"...And then she turned right around and said Danny's fine."_

Nor was _that_. "Um..." Tucker turned the situation over in his head multiple times, but that didn't help him understand it any better. He cleared his throat, stalling for time. "That's... what?"

_"Exactly,"_ he heard Sam say with a slightly smug tone. _"So there's either a ghost making Jazz extremely confused right now, or she's just really tired." I'm gonna go with really, really tired,_ Tucker thought, and he would've said so if Sam hadn't spoken again. _"Wanna get out here and help?"_

_Decisions, decisions, _thought Tucker, again glancing around his cluttered room. It wasn't much of a decision, really. "Uh, yeah, sure. Um..." he glanced at the clock, which read 2: 23. _It was that late? _he thought, startled. _Really?_ "Where is everybody?"

The answer came a moment later. _"At the mall. I'm already headed there now."_

"Okay," he said, getting up and reaching for a discarded coat. His house was closer to the mall, and he knew she would get there before her. "I'll see you in a few, then."

_"See ya,"_ he heard drift through the speaker, and he hung up. Tucker quickly made sure that his parents were still asleep, and then made his way out of the house.

A few minutes later, Tucker rode his skateboard into the parking lot of the mall-turned-bazaar, looking around for the others. He could see Sam's moped parked a short ways away, so he knew she couldn't be too far. That didn't mean that he couldn't see her, though.

There was something weird about this place, he knew. He couldn't really feel it, but something about the lights and the wind felt... odd, to say the least.

Suddenly, he heard a groan. Tucker tipped his head toward the sound, and quickly rode his board around the building. He came to a halt when he saw a window with a large hole shattered through it. Ignoring his shock, he stepped off the board and poked his head through. The hole was large enough to let him give the broken glass a wide berth, making him wonder who, or what, made it.

Hearing the groan again, Tucker turned his attention to his front. The area immediately following the window was littered with broken glass and split wood and plastic, ruined by the projectile. And at the end of the path of destruction lay a familiar groaning figure.

"Danny!" yelled Tucker, pushing his way through the debris to get to his friend. Danny groaned again as Tucker reached his side, and Tucker knelt down to check for injuries. There weren't any, but he looked behind himself, knowing that the trip would've been painful.

"T-Tucker..." moaned Danny, and Tucker turned his attention back to him. It hadn't escaped his notice that he was in his human form, and Tucker could only wonder what did this.

In the middle of Danny's coming to, his eyes suddenly snapped open and he screamed "_Jazz!_" Danny leapt up with a flash of light - turning him into Phantom - and he flew out of the building fast as anything. Tucker blinked, quickly standing and struggling through the debris again. He poked his head out through the broken window again just in time to see Danny recoil in midair with an echoing moan of fear and horror.

Watching him abruptly collapse to the ground, Tucker was about to call his name in concern when he heard the bell on his arm ring and a hand came up to cover his mouth. Tucker struggled, trying to see who had him when he stopped in confusion. His own hand had rendered him silent. And he didn't do it.

Hearing a giggle echo from behind him, Tucker whirled around. There was a girl there, standing in the middle of the mess.

_But that's impossible,_ he thought to himself, eyes widening. _She couldn't have gotten here without making a helluva lot of noise. Unless..._

"You know," she said suddenly in a bell-like voice, making Tucker start, "I've always been fascinated with dark skin." She walked over to him, phasing through the wood, plastic, and glass without even going intangible. She ran a finger down Tucker's possessed arm, making it tingle with that odd feeling he felt before. He didn't like it.

Her finger stopped when she reached the brass bell, and her black eyes hardened. Then her face was split with a smile. She looked back up to meet her eyes with Tucker's, saying, "A white man's skin goes blue when he chokes and gray when he dies. I've always wondered what dark skin does."

Without giving him a chance to register what she meant, she lightly flicked the bell on his arm, making it ring. His hand let his mouth go, letting him breathe freely, only to clamp down tightly on his neck.

Every bit of breath he just gained was cut off, and Tucker gasped. He clutched his wrist with his other hand, trying to pull it away, but to no avail. His possessed arm somehow gained the same strength that he'd seen the result of minutes before. His good arm clawed and groped, breaking his own skin in multiple places. It did nothing.

He was running out of air. He tried to scream. He tried to plead. But the girl's face never changed. When she seemed satisfied, she rang his bell again.

His hand didn't let him go, however. It simply changed its grip. Instead of putting the fingers around his entire neck, it dug into his skin to grip his windpipe. Tucker renewed his efforts for freedom, but all he managed was a low, gurgled, "D-Danny..."

The girl stepped back, her own arm clawed in a position around the air the same way his arm was around his windpipe. He thought he heard someone scream his name, but he was beyond hearing anything now. She gave another, broad smile, and jerked her arm back.

His own arm did the same.


	5. Iron Bells

**God, I'm not sure I'll be able to finish the sixth one in time. Keep your fingers crossed.**

_

* * *

Iron Bells_

There was something wrong with the night.

Danny could feel it. As he hovered in the middle of the cloudless sky, eyes closed in concentration, he felt the air shift. Opening his eyes to reveal glowing green, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Still, Danny knew that this _wrong _wasn't something you could see.

He was distracted from his musing by a chill slipping past his lips. Groaning, Danny whipped around to face the threat with an ecto-blast ready-

And saw a lone ecto-pus drifting aimlessly through the streets. He lowered the blast in mild confusion, but Danny quickly shook his head and dove down to meet it.

It was a stubborn thing. It kept dipping and dodging and twisting its body in ways his normal enemies couldn't. Combined with his lack of sleep and the wrong feeling still present, Danny got angry very, _very _quickly.

With a scream of frustration, Danny grabbed one of its tentacles and slammed it repeatedly into the first building he saw. In his blind rage, Danny didn't notice that the ecto-pus had suddenly disappeared until he had swung his arms again with out hearing it screech in pain. He looked up to find his sister briskly capping a Fenton Thermos while meeting his gaze. He had somehow found his way home during the chase.

Annoyed that his target had been removed, Danny hissed, "What are you _doing?_"

Jazz's eyes widened at the anger in his tone, but then she glared, saying "I think I was helping you, Danny!"

Danny felt his eyes roll. "Well, don't," he barked, folding his arms. "I was doing fine on my own!"

"Oh, really?" said Jazz in a I-know-better-than-you tone. "Where's your Thermos, then?"

'My Thermos is right here,' is what Danny would've said if it were true. Instead, he felt behind himself and proved himself false. He twisted around, trying to see if he'd missed it somehow, but after a few seconds Danny had to admit to himself that it wasn't there. Blushing, he muttered, "I-It must still be in my room..."

"And how long were you fighting that ecto-pus already?" he heard Jazz ask, and Danny had to admit that he didn't know. An hour, maybe...? He was cut off by Jazz again. "Come on, little brother," she said, waving him inside. "You need to get some sleep, pronto."

"Can't," said Danny sharply. _This _was something he _had _to get her to understand. "There's something wrong with tonight, Jazz. I don't know what it is, but I know it's definitely something to do with the ghosts."

"What about them?" asked his sister, and Danny was satisfied at the shudder he heard in her voice.

"They're nowhere! There hasn't been any ghost to antagonize me since this afternoon except for the weak, stupid ones like the one you just caught. After two weeks of nearly non-stop ghost fighting, for them to just stop like this is just..." Danny allowed his fear to show, if only to get Jazz to understand. "_Wrong_."

Jazz stared for a long time, but Danny didn't drop his gaze. She had to understand. Finally she nodded, and Danny thought that was the end of it. Until... "Right. Well then, I guess that means I'm coming out with you."

_What?_ "W-What?" He was gaping like a fish, but Jazz had already turned and disappeared.

_She didn't mean what I think she meant, _Danny thought, trying to make sense of what just happened. _She can't have meant what I thought she meant..._ Danny phased into his sister's room, only to find that she had already changed clothes and was packing up her hunting gear.

He came up behind her and gripped her shoulders when she turned around to get her coat. "Jazz, _no_. You _can't_."

Jazz's eyes met his, and she could see nothing but resolution, to his horror. "Yes, Danny, I can. And I will." She attempted to walk past him, but he wasn't giving up without a fight. "Danny. Let go."

"No." _Not until you see sense!_

"Danny-"

"No, Jazz, you're not getting it!" He pulled her closer, until he knew she saw his fear. "When something is wrong with the Zone, something is wrong with the Real World, too. If something is scaring the ghosts into hiding, then that means that nothing is safe. Especially not humans!"

He thought he had her. Her eyes began to see fear just like his. But then they hardened. "I may be human, Danny, but so are you. Powers or no powers." He felt her put her hands over his, but didn't acknowledge it. He only shook his head.

"Ja-oomph!" A hug cut off his response, and he stared at the bundle of older sister around his neck before he smiled softly and began to hug her back.

"Danny," she said, voice slightly muffled. "Thank you. It makes me happy to know how much you care." She was suddenly gone, and Danny gazed dumbly at his empty arm. "You do so much for me," he heard her say over by the coat rack. "Now it's my turn to help you any way I can. Starting with this."

He could only stare at his sister while she put her coat and shoes on. _You're supposed to be smarter than I am, Jazz,_ he thought, watching her numbly. _You're supposed to let me protect you. You..._ He flinched when she turned back around. Her eyes were full of fire. _It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I'm supposed to help you. I'm the..._ Danny stopped, slumping. _The younger brother. And you're the big sister, and trying to help me..._

He finally sighed and looked up. "There will be no convincing you, will there?"

"Nope!" She chirped. She is way to chipper for something like this... he thought, rolling his eyes. She laughed at him for it, and he had to fight back a smile himself.

"Fine," he conceded, letting his sister's fire fuel his own. "But I need you to stay with me at all times, got it?" Jazz nodded seriously, and Danny knew that she finally, _finally _understood. "Good."

* * *

He traced the feeling back to its source. He knew that whatever had caused the air to thicken like it did would only be stopped there. He kept an eye on Jazz, who was following him from underneath by scooter. She had the same look on her face that was probably on his before; he knew she could feel it almost as well as he did.

After only a few minutes, it seemed, they had reached the core of the sensation. Danny was startled to notice it was the mall. Danny subconsciously reached a hand up to his neck, tracing the iron bell that still hung there.

The air shimmered a few feet away, and Danny stopped in midair, watching it. The shimmer writhed and coalesced, eventually becoming a girl with a wide smile. However, Danny didn't let his guard down. He glared at her, but then his scrutiny became confusion. She looked... incomplete somehow. Like something was missing.

The girl's smile never wavered, and she raised a hand toward Jazz. Seeing this, Danny's eyes widened. With a screamed "No!" he flew down to hover in front of his sister, and then the girl waved her hand. He couldn't see it, but he could feel energy making its way toward them. It reached him before he could attempt to shield, and he heard the bell around his neck ring - almost as though in obedience.

Suddenly, the necklace constricted, and he couldn't breathe.

Everything after that went by so quickly. Falling, turning human, Jazz's scream, getting thrown through the mall... it all faded into the memory of a dream, and everything went black what seemed like moments later.

* * *

The next thing he knew, a familiar voice was calling to him. He latched onto it with a groan. _What just happened? Who...?_

"T-Tucker..." he coughed. _That's right. This is Tucker... Maybe Sam is nearby... and Jazz... Jazz...?_

_"Jazz!"_ Danny's eyes snapped open. He gave little notice to Tucker, surprised by his sudden action, and shifted easily into his Phantom form. He paid little attention to his surroundings, only knowing that he needed to get to Jazz, see if she was alright...

He flew outside and quickly looked around. He saw where Jazz's scooter was parked. So where was Jazz?

He found her.

Danny pressed his hands to his mouth and couldn't repress a groan of disgusted fear and pain. His sister lay on the ground, half-hidden by one of the abandoned bazaar stands. Her head was sliced in two, from ear to ear. The blood pooled underneath her, staining her strawberry-blonde hair red. She had a horrible smile on her face as well, one that tried to tell a happy story but ended up looking out of place and insane.

Danny collapsed to the ground, a seven foot fall, but he didn't notice. He could only destroy himself. _Why?_ he thought, closing his eyes in grief. _Why did I let her come out here? Why didn't I make her stay home?_

These and many other thoughts wound their way into his head. Until he heard a choked plea.

_"D-Danny..."_

"Tucker!" Danny's eyes widened. _If whatever killed Jazz is still here...!_ He leapt up, flying back to the hole in the glass that he'd been thrown from.

Just in time to see Tucker rip his own throat out.

_"TUCKER!"_

Danny flew to catch Tucker when he keeled over, but it was far too late. His neck was bleeding profusely and there was nothing Danny could do to stop it. Danny's breathing hitched when he realized that his friend was still alive, but in unimaginable pain.

He started when he heard a giggle, and Danny looked up to find that same girl. He narrowed his eyes, peering at the golden bells nestled in her hair, knowing that she was behind it all. The girl was unaffected. She snapped her fingers, and Tucker's arm gave off a brief glow. Danny looked down to see Tucker's brass bell shimmering white. They disappeared in a white mist and reappeared in the same place on the girl's arm. In that time, Tucker lay still.

Danny gasped, letting his tears fall. "How... _dare_... you..." He placed Tucker on the ground gently, eyes glowing a fierce green. "How _DARE _you!"

He flew straight toward her, hands stained with Tucker's blood and glowing green with ectoplasm, when the girl only waved a hand at him. He heard his bell ring and he was stopped in midair by the neck. He let out a choked gasp as his necklace hung stationary around his neck, his body dangling and flailing as he attempted to find purchase.

His eyes found hers as she walked toward him ever so calmly. Her smile never left her face. "So this is the famous half-ghost," she muttered, looking him over with mild interest. "Hmm. You don't seem like much. If I could kill you this easily, how in the World and the Zone were you able to keep this town standing?"

Her words angered him, riled him. He clawed at his necklace, desperate to ring her throat like she rung his, but it held firm. "What _are _you?" he asked, the question taking his breath away.

She smiled still. "I'm a curse. I've been called many things. Gwendolen, Csenge, Inbal, Ling, Rei..." She leaned up to whisper to him. "But for all intents and purposes, for the next five seconds of your life, you may call me Belle."

Her hand reached up to flick the bell hanging round his neck. It rang. It _squeezed_.

He felt the ribbon cut into his skin. He felt his lungs scream. He felt his windpipe collapse from the pressure.

Then he felt his neck snap.


	6. Hear the Shrieking and the Silence

**This is only a place holder, for the real chapter 6. Yesterday, I was in North Carolina for a wedding, and my laptop charger decided to stop working, so there wasn't any way to write or post chapter 5. I just did so now. But since that took most of the evening, I won't have time to write chapter 6 properly before the deadline. However, I will write it tomorrow, replace it with this note, and then proceed to edit it all with Cori's help. Thank you for reading everything thus far.  
**


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